Two steering racks in under two years; is it me?

GotToChange

I don't like to think that I have been "ripped off" or "they saw me coming".... but it has been suggested to me that there is almost no reason for a steering rack to need replacement after such short period of time.

Garage 1 fitted a "Power Rack" in October 2011.

After this, they did some other work which became over-complicated and costly and I kind of lost patience with them, so started to use a new garage for MOT and any other small repairs.
A few weeks ago, a clunking noise when enaging full lock resulted in a trip to Garage 2 - who told me that I needed a new steering rack (????) and track rod ends.

Another £400.

Asking another garage if this should have been necessary, been advised that the first new rack was probably replacing the original (car has done over 100,000 miles - VW Passat TDi) and the first new one should certainly not have needed to be replaced and that I should query this with Garage 1.
Problem is that they say that I should have taken the car back to them when one of the reasons I didn't was because I had actually forgotten that I had had the job done by them so recently, it was only going through old bills that showed it up (yes, I forget these things..... dumb).

Do I have any comeback at all (2 x £350 now), especially as the first replacement rack would have been environmentally disposed of/reconditioned by Garage 2? The impartial garage said something about Trading Standards but that sounds as though it could get ugly.....

forgotmyname

Did they actually replace the rack? If so then they did the work they charged for.

Fitted a poor quality one maybe.

Unless you can prove what the problem was then your going to struggle to get anywhere with either garage.

As you no longer have the parts then it will be even harder.

Enviromentally recycled had me giggling. You have a rebuilt or refurbished rack. They send your old one back so they can renew any worn parts and sell it onto the next person.

If they claim its a brand new rack then they will have no issues with giving you the old one. If they wont or want to charge you extra its because they need to return it to get a deposit back.

GotToChange

forgotmyname wrote: »

Did they actually replace the rack? If so then they did the work they charged for.

Fitted a poor quality one maybe.

Unless you can prove what the problem was then your going to struggle to get anywhere with either garage.

As you no longer have the parts then it will be even harder.

Enviromentally recycled had me giggling. You have a rebuilt or refurbished rack. They send your old one back so they can renew any worn parts and sell it onto the next person.

If they claim its a brand new rack then they will have no issues with giving you the old one. If they wont or want to charge you extra its because they need to return it to get a deposit back.

Can you please re-explain this to me as I am not following.....

As far as I knew, each rack was new (it is only Garage 1 saying that the rack taken off the car - that they had fitted - by Garage 2 would be reconditioned and there being and environmental charge on the bill for the for the second job.....); I really don't know much about these things.

Obviously.


What I would say though is that I didn't even recollect that I had had a new rack so recently before I instructed the garage to go ahead on the replacement. It was only when I listed (out of - um - interest) the work done on the car over the last few years *sigh* (kept nearly all bills) that I noticed/remembered. By then of course, too late to bring it up with Garage 1 or ask Garage 2 for the rack that they had taken off for "evidence".

GotToChange

PasturesNew wrote: »

No idea... but I do know that in over 30 years of driving (many miles in most of those years) ... and mostly driving old heaps .... I've never had one go.[/QUOTE

It makes me wonder what causes these things to fail..... Were you simply lucky - or was it just timing and your cars had just had one, or needed one when you parted with them? Hard to know.

I don't mind that I had to have the first one as I have always believed that car components can't last forever; just fed up at
the job being done twice and having no come-back because I wasn't on the ball.

Muscle750

Working in the motor trade we've had no end of trouble with copy steering racks I expect they fitted a copy one a genuine rack for a 3 series's BMW is £700 a copy one is £140 and lasts 5 mins

GotToChange

Muscle750 wrote: »

Working in the motor trade we've had no end of trouble with copy steering racks I expect they fitted a copy one a genuine rack for a 3 series's BMW is £700 a copy one is £140 and lasts 5 mins

Would cost be an indicator? I paid £350 inc fitting - no breakdown of parts/labour on bill.
The second one included track rod end(s), bill total just over £400.

I assume they know that it's a copy/not a copy.... but no-one told me/offered an alternative.
Hm.
:think:

keith1950

Would cost be an indicator? I paid £350 inc fitting - no breakdown of parts/labour on bill.
The second one included track rod end(s), bill total just over £400.

I think that almost certainly both racks will be reconditioned units.

Ring a local VW dealer to confirm what price the genuine VW rack costs.

Then add several hours at minimum £50 +VAT per hour , unless you used dodgy back street garages !

p.s.

I have done around 3,500,000 miles over the last 40 ish years and never had a rack changed .( Although I have never kept a vehicle more than 7 years......I have certainly contributed more than most to killing the planet !! ).

If you ever have a problem with a repair always go back to the people who did the repair, as you've gone elsewhere you have no comeback at all.

forgotmyname

The old rack gets sent back to the factory that refurbish them. Charging you for enviromental disposal is a ripoff.

They recondition it and resell it. Its not disposed of by anyone.

mattyprice4004

So another garage have repaired it, you have no proof the rack was faulty, you gave Garage 1 no chance to repair it, and to top it off you don't even have the faulty rack to give back to them?

I'll let you figure out how far you'll get. Common sense needs to be applied!

red_eye

GotToChange wrote: »

Can you please re-explain this to me as I am not following.....

As far as I knew, each rack was new (it is only Garage 1 saying that the rack taken off the car - that they had fitted - by Garage 2 would be reconditioned and there being and environmental charge on the bill for the for the second job.....); I really don't know much about these things.

Obviously.


What I would say though is that I didn't even recollect that I had had a new rack so recently before I instructed the garage to go ahead on the replacement. It was only when I listed (out of - um - interest) the work done on the car over the last few years *sigh* (kept nearly all bills) that I noticed/remembered. By then of course, too late to bring it up with Garage 1 or ask Garage 2 for the rack that they had taken off for "evidence".

each rack you get was a reconditioned unit, new internals in an old outer casing.

environmental charge? they collect all the scrap to sell to the scrap man, who then sells it on to be recycled

Muscle750

Plus if its leaking someone has put the wrong oil in it and its done the seals it must be mineral oil on vws audi ietc